How busy are you? Very, very busy? So busy, in fact, that you can't possibly spare, say, 30 seconds?
Yes, according to one consumer research organisation which has concluded that sales of oranges are falling because people just don't have the time to peel them.
While orange consumption has dropped for a third straight year the so-called "easy peeler" market - satsumas and tangerines - is booming, TNS announced.
The reason is simple, one fruit industry insider, Prag Mistry of importer and distributor Fruitmann, told The Grocer:
People find it easier to eat easy-peelers as they have so little time. A recent study showed we only spend 15 minutes eating lunch in the UK on average.
Really? I rarely eat oranges for the simple reason that I don't much care for them and they can be a bit messy, but I can't remember time ever being a factor.
I find the modern mania for being - or claiming to be - constantly, feverishly busy, and the associated assumption that it's a good thing, deeply depressing. It's usually a symptom of exaggerated self importance.
I shall track down an orange right now and spend several minutes peeling it at leisure. If standards on theguardian.com suffer in the interim please let us know.
